


Non-Exempt

by Arsenic, arsenicarcher (Arsenic)



Series: 14 Valentines [49]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-21
Updated: 2009-07-21
Packaged: 2020-09-27 04:55:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20402020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arsenic/pseuds/Arsenic, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arsenic/pseuds/arsenicarcher
Summary: Written for 14v 2009.  Theme: Work/Economics.





	Non-Exempt

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to belladonnalin and emmytie for the beta.

When she found out, Olivia was surprised to realize she hadn't known earlier. For one thing, she was a detective. She figured shit out for a living. For another, there wasn't much about Elliot she didn't know. It wasn't even that they talked all that much, it was just, well. They were both detectives. And they both saw each other far more than anybody else. Putting two and two together, she knew _a lot_ about Elliot. What she hadn't known--not until the day they were opening mail next to each other and she caught a glimpse of his paystub--was how much more money he was making.

The number--quickly disappearing under another bit of mail--surprised her to an extent that she blanked for a bit, only coming back when Elliot asked, "Liv?"

She blinked. "Yeah, sorry."

Elliot frowned. "You tired?"

She shook her head decisively. "Just thinking."

***

Olivia tried to rationalize it at first, but it wasn't as though she took any less risks than Elliot did, or solved any less cases. They were _partners_, for fuck's sake. She'd been on the force maybe all of two years less than Elliot, which wasn't enough that it should have made that kind of a difference. She knew that Elliot didn't have any special education or training that she didn't.

She went through all the possibilities in her mind, even though she knew which one it was. When she reached that one, her fingers wrapped tightly around the butt of her gun. The safety was on; it was harmless. She could feel her knuckles turning white.

*

"What's the likelihood that a case about prejudicial pay differential brought up by a female detective would get anywhere before it was buried?"

Alex looked at Olivia, kneading thoughtfully at her carton of take out with the disposable chopsticks they'd provided. Finally she said, "I'd be more concerned about what good it would do you, in the end."

Olivia nodded. She knew. She knew if she fought the system she would end up outside it. After several more pokes at her moo shoo, Alex asked, "That bad?"

Olivia thought about the trip she hadn't taken last year because the money just hadn't been there, and the two months of hell when she'd been paying for repairs on her car after the transmission had gotten all fucked up. "Bad enough."

"I could give you some names. Good people. People who'd--"

Olivia shook her head. She didn't really have the money.

***

Elliot had never played the family card, even when he probably should have. For instance, he always split the case paperwork evenly between them, and even when she had said, "Hey, go home," and tried to take a few of them for herself, he would just snatch them back, looking up at her with a knowing slant to his gaze.

It was one of the things she appreciated most about him, that he didn't think not having a family equaled not having a life. Occasionally, he would ask, "How're things?" and mean, "You seeing anyone?" or, "Anybody to go home to?" but mostly he got that guys didn't do so well around a woman who carried a gun and was honestly willing to use it. As far as making small talk around work went, not even the guys on the job could really do that. It just wasn't the sort of thing you brought up at a dinner party.

It was a good enough reason for her to take on some of the stuff that kept them at the station until eleven, midnight, took him home to Cathy too late until she hadn't been willing to wait anymore. He'd never asked, though, and after a while she had learned to accept that that was his way of acknowledging her as his equal, even if she wasn't seen that way systematically.

Sometimes she would steal a couple of extra case files anyway, but never the big ones, never the ones he'd notice. It was how she acknowledged that he was something better than the system he worked for, something she was still willing to believe in.

*

Olivia asked the captain in her review, "Sir, how would you rate my workload compared to the others?"

"The others?"

"Stabler, Munch." Olivia made a small gesture of et cetera with her hand.

The captain narrowed his eyes. "What's this about?"

Olivia looked straight at him. "You sign our paychecks, sir."

He grimaced. "Nobody said you took the easy way out, Detective."

He marked her for an eighteen percent raise, the highest possible at a year's time. She was at six months. It still didn't make up the difference. She appreciated the effort, all the same.

***

It was turned down by central.

***

Elliot bought her a drink. "You all right?"

Olivia smiled at him, taking a sip. "Just so long as you're paying."

He laughed, clearly not getting the joke, but willing to play along. He brought up his glass. "Guess I'll drink to that."


End file.
